These days more people are returning back to the land to help support their families. For most one of their fondest memories is the old hen house in the back yard. The idea of fresh eggs from your own hen house for breakfast is tantalizing. However before you can sit back and enjoy these excellent eggs you need to know the best way to build a chicken pen and house.
There are many methods to build a chicken pen and house and many alternative ideas with no 2 are similar. Many factors must be taken into account before starting out to design your hen house. Maybe the most vital factor to think about is how many chickens you intend to have. This correlates directly to the size of both the hen house and the chicken run you’ll need to have.
You also need to decide what your main goal in raising chickens is, are you planning on raising your chickens primarily for their eggs or are you raising them as a source of meat for the table? You want to take into account that they are going to need somewhere that they can roost and lay their eggs when you build a chicken pen. Your hen house plans must take into consideration that laying hens need roughly 1.5 sq. feet each of space inside the henhouse.
When it is time to plan your outside run remember again that each kind of chicken has different space wishes a laying hen desires about 8 square feet, whereas a large chicken desires closer to ten feet of space. This much space is needed in order for them to get enough room to exercise and to reduce the risk of your hens and chickens fighting each other causing injury or presumably death, all of this must be taken into consideration when you build a chicken pen.
When you build a chicken pen you need to design it in such a way that your chickens can seek shelter from the elements and supply them with places they can shelter from both the sun and the rain so as to keep them healthy year round and you well supplied with fresh eggs.
There’s plenty of information out there that can aid you on Chicken Coops Plans. A lot more info at Building Chicken Coops.